


Matchmaker, Matchmaker

by enigmaticblue



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-30
Updated: 2010-03-30
Packaged: 2017-10-08 12:49:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticblue/pseuds/enigmaticblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cordelia tries her hand at matchmaking. Set in an imaginary S3 of Ats, post-Billy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Cordelia watched Wesley sitting across the lobby of the hotel. He was reading one of his thick, dusty tomes, although she could tell that he wasn’t as engrossed as he usually was. Wesley kept glancing up, towards the office, where Fred and Gunn were going through files. Normally their positions would be reversed, with Wesley in the office, but Gunn had decided that their files needed to be reorganized. That couldn’t be done from the front desk, meaning that Wesley was doing his research elsewhere.

And avoiding Fred like the plague.

She’d told him that no one blamed him for what had happened with Billy’s blood; his reaction hadn’t been something that he could control. After Fred had gone to see him, she’d told Cordelia what he’d said—and what he hadn’t said.

“I think he was cryin’,” Fred had whispered. “I didn’t know what to do.”

When Wesley had finally returned to the hotel, they had all pretended as though nothing had happened, trying to go back to normal. Things were more strained, however, and it was obvious that Wesley was often uncomfortable around the rest of them.

Cordelia decided that it was more than time for him to get over himself and make a move on Fred—before the opportunity completely passed him by.

“Hey, Wes,” Cordelia greeted him. “I brought you coffee.”

“Without whipped cream, I hope,” he replied, looking up with a smile.

Cordy rolled her eyes. “I don’t see what you have against whipped cream.”

“Not with coffee,” he said, accepting the cup. “How are you this morning, Cordelia?”

“Good.” She smiled brightly. “Great, even.”

Wesley returned her smile, but Cordelia could see the lingering pain behind his eyes. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Thinking quickly, Cordelia said, “We should all go out for dinner tonight.”

“If you’d like,” Wesley said, sounding confused. “For what reason?”

Cordelia shrugged casually. “Oh, just because. It’s been too long since we’ve all gone out, not since before Pylea.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Wesley acknowledged. “We can certainly go out. Was there somewhere you had in mind?”

Cordy just smiled. “I’ll figure it out. It’s too late to get reservations anywhere nice, but I have a few ideas.”

Wesley gave her a strange look. He knew her better than almost anyone else, and Cordelia had a feeling that he knew she was up to something. “I’m sure whatever you decide will be fine,” he finally said. “We should probably let the others know, though.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Cordy assured him. “You go back to your reading.”

She had some arrangements to make.

~~~~~

Angel was an easy recruit. Cordelia didn’t even have to explain what her plan was, other than to tell him that she wanted to spend time with her friends. “Are you sure you don’t want take-out?” he asked.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “We always do that, Angel. I’m talking about something different.” She hesitated, then pointed out, “It might help Wesley.”

“Help Wes what?” Angel asked, looking concerned. “I thought he was okay.”

“Okay, yes, but not great, not after that thing with Billy’s blood,” Cordelia replied.

“That wasn’t his fault.” Angel looked thoughtful. “You might be right, though.”

“Of course I’m right,” Cordelia breezed. “You just leave it to me.”

Angel gave her an amused look. “As if you’d let me do anything else.”

Cordelia lifted one eyebrow, putting on her most superior expression. “How else would it get done right, Angel?”

He shrugged. “Just let me know where and when.”

“Good.” Cordelia went about her preparations with the same single-mindedness she’d applied to cheerleading in high school, and to Angel Investigations more recently. There was really no way to ditch everyone else, at least for the actual dinner, but Cordelia was fairly certain that she could find a way to make sure that Fred and Wesley were alone together.

She knew that she could only give him the opportunity; Wesley would have to take the initiative.

With dinner reservations made at a nice restaurant, although not a terribly fancy one, Cordelia was certain that she had everything under control. Technically, she did have everything under control—except for the visions.

Just as she hung up the phone after calling the restaurant, Cordy felt the familiar spike of pain. “Not now,” she groaned.

A familiar arm circled her shoulders. “Cordelia? What do you see?”

“A demon—it’s going to attack a Girl Scout troop at Valcrest,” she gritted out through clenched teeth. She could feel Wesley steering her to a chair.

“Do you know how much time we have?” he asked.

“It’s not going to come out until tonight, but it’s an hour away, and you’ll have to find the campers,” Cordelia replied with a weary sigh. Once again, their plans were going to be put on hold. She really wished that evil would give them a break for once.

“Here.” Wesley put a glass of water and a couple of aspirin in her hands. “I’ll let the others know, and then I’ll start researching. Hopefully, we can figure out what this demon is so we know how to kill it before we have to find out by trial and error.”

Cordelia watched through half-closed eyes as he began rounding everyone up, grabbing the requisite books while he was at it. When he suggested that Fred stay at the hotel with her, Cordy could barely refrain from rolling her eyes. “I’ll be fine, Wesley. I’d rather go home if I’m not going with you guys.”

“It would probably be better if you didn’t,” Angel said apologetically. “Let us handle it. Gunn can give you a ride home while Wesley and I try to figure out what we’re dealing with.”

She sighed. “Okay. If you insist.”

“Angel’s right,” Wesley said kindly. “We’ll get dinner together some other night.”

Gunn drove her home, but Cordelia was silent, disappointment weighing on her. “You okay?”

She glanced over at him. “I’m fine, Gunn.”

“Because you don’t look so fine,” he said.

Cordelia shot him a dirty look. “What? I look that bad?”

“No, but you’re usually bitching up a storm right about now,” he pointed out.

Cordelia shook her head. “It’s just that I’m wondering if we’re ever going to get a chance to just be normal for a change.”

“We’re not normal,” Gunn pointed out. “Passed up normal a long time ago.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t wish for it sometimes,” she replied wistfully. “I just wanted a night to go out with my friends.”

‘And try to set a couple of them up,’ Cordelia thought. She’d had a plan; it was Monday night, and if there wasn’t a job, Gunn disappeared to watch football. Cordelia could distract Angel, and that would leave Wes and Fred alone. If nothing else, it would give them time to get used to one another again.

Wesley would, of course, know exactly what she was up to, but Cordelia didn’t care about that. She just wanted to give them an opportunity to be alone, which hadn’t happened since the Billy incident.

Once again, Cordelia thought about what she would do to him if she’d been able to get her hands on Billy. She’d often wished she could bring him back from the dead, just so she could kill him herself. Billy had done a lot of damage, both to the people she was trying to protect, and to the people she loved.

She thought that the thing that bothered her the most was that Billy had turned good men into mirror images of himself. That’s what hurt, long after his influence had worn off.

“Sleep tight, Cordy,” Gunn said.

“Thanks,” she said, heading inside. “Hey, Dennis,” Cordelia called as soon as she entered her apartment.

Taking off her jacket, Cordy allowed Dennis to take it out of her hands and hang it up for her. “Thank you, Dennis.” She could hear the bath water begin to run, and Cordelia smiled. “That’s perfect. You read my mind.”

Her ghostly roommate really did seem to know her better than anyone else at this point. Cordelia stripped off her clothing, dropping everything on the bathroom floor, not even watching as Dennis folded everything neatly. She was getting terribly spoiled with having a ghost around, and she knew it. If there ever came a time when Cordelia moved, it was going to be hard to live without him.

Once the water was cold, Cordelia pulled herself out of the tub reluctantly, then dried off and donned her favorite sweats. On a night like this one, the only thing that would help was Rocky Road, and she had every intention of indulging.

Except that there wasn’t any left.

“Darn,” she muttered. “No ice cream.” Phantom Dennis couldn’t pull food out of thin air, and she had no intention of running to the store—since that would require getting dressed and putting on makeup—which meant that she was going without comfort food tonight.

There was nothing on TV either, other than the ubiquitous football, and Cordelia let out a heavy sigh. It just wasn’t fair. All she’d wanted was to help Wesley out, maybe give him an opportunity to talk to the girl he liked. Cordy wanted him to be happy; she looked upon it as her sacred duty.

Even though she thought about going to bed, Cordelia wasn’t tired. It was still early for her, and she was restless. She wanted to do something, and yet her whole life had revolved around Angel and the gang for so long that she didn’t know what to do when given some free time.

The knock on the door startled her, and Cordelia rose, concerned. Although they were all more nocturnal than not at this point, it was still pretty late for anyone to be showing up on her doorstep without calling first.

“I saw your light,” Wesley explained when she opened the door. He held up a paper sack. “I thought you might be hungry.”

Cordelia took the bag from him, peeking inside. “Wesley!” she exclaimed, recognizing the take-out boxes from one of her favorite Italian places. “What brought this on?”

“You seemed disappointed earlier,” he explained, then held up a second bag. “I also brought ice cream, if that’s okay.”

“More than okay,” Cordelia replied, ushering him inside. “I just realized that I’d eaten the last of mine.”

He smiled. “I remembered how much you liked it, particularly after a vision.”

“How did that go?” she asked, beginning to pull out the foil containers.

Wesley shrugged. “The demon was relatively easy to kill between all of us. We even managed to stay out of sight of the Girl Scout troop. I think that their campfire tales would have become all too realistic if they’d seen it.”

“I think you might be right.” Cordelia grabbed silverware and handed Wesley a fork, beginning to eat without bothering to use a plate. “Thanks, Wes.”

“It’s the least I could do,” he said sincerely. “I know how much those visions take out of you.” Wesley hesitated. “Gunn told me what you said—about being normal.”

“It’s not so much about being normal as it is wanting to try it on for a night,” she replied. “It would be nice to go out to dinner with my friends without having to worry about my head exploding from the pain.”

Wesley sighed. “I wish I could give that to you.”

Cordelia looked down at her ravioli and thought about the half gallon of Rocky Road that was waiting for her in her freezer. She thought about Wes, and how far they’d come. Although she wished that her plans would have worked out, there would be another night. She would make sure that Fred and Wesley ended up alone together as often as she could—and Cordelia was pretty good at managing people.

More than anything else, she was simply grateful for where she was, right at that moment.

“You have,” Cordelia replied, watching as Wesley’s eyes lit up, and she knew that she’d helped him, just as he had her.

As she’d learned, that’s what friends were for.


End file.
